


The Dragons of GEB

by lucidscreamer



Series: 100 Yu-Gi-Oh Prompts [23]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alien Planet, Alternate Universe - Ancient Egypt, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Atem POV, Dragon Riders, Gen, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Young Atem
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 11:13:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20620085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucidscreamer/pseuds/lucidscreamer
Summary: On a distant planet, a lost colony of an Earth where the Egyptian Pharaohs never ceased to rule, a young man confronts a future he never planned for when he is chosen by a newly hatched dragon to be its life-long companion.(The one where Prince Atem becomes a dragon rider.)





	The Dragons of GEB

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: 60. Animals (100 YGO Themes)
> 
> Series: 100 YGO Prompts  
Series: The Dragons of GEB
> 
> Disclaimer: Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the creation of Kazuki Takahashi. No ownership of the canon characters, settings, or events is claimed and none should be implied. DoP is the creation of Anne McCaffrey. 
> 
> Note: Inspired by "The Dragonriders of Pern", this AU is not a direct fusion and is not meant to fit within that universe. Many details of culture, geography, the dragons, etc. have been changed to better fit the YGO aspect of the story and because I didn't want to just rewrite DoP with new characters. 
> 
> Imagine an alien colony world where much of the landscape and culture is similar to that of ancient Egypt... only with dragons. And no contact with Earth for several centuries, a la Pern (which is where the "inspired by" comes in, though unlike Pern magic exists here as well as technology).
> 
> G.E.B. = Generational Exo-planetary Bioformation (Project)
> 
> (Geb is also an ancient Egyptian god, of course, which was the inspiration for the name of the planet. In Egyptian religion, Geb was the Earth itself. His wife Nut was the sky.)

The inner Nesting Chamber was hushed, deserted except for the watchful presence of the enormous white dragon brooding over her clutch. Prince Atem stood on the edge of the spelled sands, feeling the heat leeching up through the leather soles of his sandals, and stared with wide eyes at the large eggs dotted about the sands. He had been to various hatching grounds within the kingdom before, but only as an honored guest seated beside his father in the royal box atop the spectators' stands. This close, the sight of the multicolored eggs left him awestruck.

The weight of his worries dragged at Atem as he moved hesitantly further onto sand spelled by magician-priests to retain the heat of the sun. The chamber, hollowed from the limestone cliff, had a crevice at the top that was open to the sky and allowed some natural light in, but the priests used highly polished copper mirrors to direct more sunlight onto the sands as needed. Atem had watched their work only the day before, fascinated by the magic and the care the priests took around the mother dragon and her clutch. Shielded oil lamps encircled the hatching sands, adding their own muted light to the warm gloom of the chamber.

Like all the Potentials, Atem had been encouraged to spend some time becoming familiar with the eggs so that he would not freeze when the time came for them to hatch. The great mother dragon opened her eyes at his approach. He gave her a respectful bow of his head, murmuring, "I have only come to look, Nebet. I give you my word that I will not harm your children."

Satisfied, the mother dragon settled herself more securely about her eggs and returned to her drowsing, her eyelids drooping to half-cover gleaming blue eyes the size of chariot wheels.

Atem looked around at the clutch. It was a healthy one, with at least thirty large, speckled eggs clustered in the sand. Apart from the others, carefully bulwarked with the heated sand and resting between the forepaws of the dragon, a single, slightly larger dragon egg awaited its time to hatch. In the shadows of the hatching ground, the egg -- which held an unborn "mother" dragon -- seemed to give off a faint, golden glow.

Atem studied it for a moment and wondered which of the five female Potentials would be chosen by the newly hatched female dragon. He hoped it would _not_ be Vivian. The strange girl from a far-off nome had flirted rather aggressively at him, hinting that if he bonded with one of the warrior dragons she would be only too happy to influence her (hypothetical) mother dragon to mate with his warrior when the time came.

Vivian seemed under the delusion that no one could, or would want to, resist her charms. Moreover, she was convinced that she was to be the next Lady of the Fortress, and had selected Atem as her future consort. When he had -- politely at first and then with increasing emphasis -- declined her unsubtle offers, she became angry and shrill. He could still hear the echo of her outraged shrieks in his head, and hoped again that the new little mother dragon would have better sense than to choose a girl like Vivian for her rider.

He gave himself a mental shake, sloughing off thoughts of Vivian like irritating sand, and cautiously crossed the hatching grounds to peer more closely at the other eggs. Everyone said there were four probable greater warriors this time, and a good mix of the other dragon types.

Atem hoped one of those unhatched warrior dragons would choose to bond with him. Oh, the Overseer of the Nestlings had stressed that the bond between dragon and rider meant that the human partner should consider themselves privileged to be chosen by any one of dragon-kind, but all the Potentials gathered to listen to the man had known what kind of dragon they _wanted _and Atem was no exception.

_Warrior's rider_. Even the title had a certain weight to it that the others lacked. He could not imagine a greater honor... or a greater thrill. Still, he tried to take the Nestling Master's words to heart. It would be an honor to become the partner of any dragon, that much he did know. The dragon's type would not matter, only that it had chosen him (if he were so fortunate). Look at the already partnered riders; each of them thought their dragon the best on Geb, regardless of its designation. Even those who were partnered with the smaller dragons who served the kingdom as couriers or mine excavators or quarry workers always seemed filled with pride in their reptilian partners.

With a final look around, Atem picked his way back across the scorching sands to the entry of one of the many tunnels that led into the living and working quarters cut into the pale limestone of the cliffside. His stomach grumbled at him, reminding him that he had missed his morning meal, having been chased from the table by Vivian and her unwelcome advances.

Maybe he could convince Maya, the older woman in charge of the kitchens, to give him a small loaf of bread or, if he were really lucky, a sweet honey cake fresh from the oven. His steps picked up speed as he exited the tunnel and found himself blinking in the bright sunlight of a ledge overlooking the open-air bakery.

The bakery was bustling with activity as men and women rushed to and fro. At one end of the chamber, an opening led out into the flat area of packed earth which held row upon row of ovens where the clay molds for the bread loaves were placed. Inside the cavern, bakers bent over massive containers where the ingredients for the dough were mixed by hand. As Atem watched, one man shoved his arms up to the elbows into a large bowl of dough and began to knead it. In the nearby brewery, leftover bread was being fermented to form a thick, yeasty beer.

In addition to the bustling bakery which supplied bread for the entire fort, there were kitchens whose ovens and open fires roasted and stewed meat -- fowl from the papyrus marshes along the river, desert antelope, river fish, and even beef from cattle sent to the fort from the local nomarch's own herds. Like the farmers in the surrounding nome, the herdsmen paid tribute to the dragon-fort in return for protection. It was not extortion, as some people foolishly claimed; the desert hills where most dragon-forts were located did not offer much opportunity for self-sufficiency in terms of farming or fishing. What there was -- in this case, a small oasis a short distance from the actual fort -- went toward providing food for the dragons. Not even the pharaoh was exempt from sending 'gifts' of food or materials, usually accompanied by a prince or other dignitary to present the provisions to the lord of the fort.

It had been on just such an occasion that Prince Atem had come to this place only a ten-day before. He had been as astonished as anyone in his entourage to be chosen by one of the fort's dragons as a Potential for the hatching. His entourage had not been happy to return to the palace without their prince. Nor did he anticipate his father would be pleased with the news they would bring him. _Perhaps_, he thought and felt his shoulders sag with the realization, _it would be best for all if no dragon bonded with him after all._

_This is not the posture of a royal prince_, the voice of one of his old tutors scolded him in memory. Atem could practically feel the rod of correction against his back and straightened instinctively. No, he would not dwell on the consequences of his choosing. It was done, and the hatching would sort itself out in its own time. For now, it was his time to find something to fill his grumbling belly. Replacing the image of his father's disapproval with that of Maya's smile, he started down the long flight of steps cut into the rock. Some of the steps were uneven, grooved by the passage of many, many sandals over the years the fort had been in use.

Once on the ground, he glanced around to orient himself amid the bustle of the bakery and then hurried off in search of the kind-hearted woman who always seemed to have a small cake or a piece of sweet ripe fruit to offer a hungry young prince.

o0o

**Author's Note:**

> nebet -- lady (title)


End file.
